


Killing Her Spiders

by PlayfulMay



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, F/M, thin walls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 11:11:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5583619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlayfulMay/pseuds/PlayfulMay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hugh lies awake in a small hotel during a stop the four characters take on a road trip. He tries his hand at sleep, but is incessantly woken by the distinct sound of ... is that Miss Fisher in Jack's room? (Thin walls prove his assumption correct.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thin Walls

"Fuck me, Jack! ..." she gasped, reaching back and digging her nails into his thigh. "Fuck me!"

There was never a man as controlled and passionate at once as Jack Robinson. There was never a way of expressing her love as there was in bed with the man of her waking dreams.

Unfortunately for Hugh, that bed was in the next room over, and the walls were thin. He laid in bed - awake - and completely stunned by the slur of words he'd heard since fifteen minutes earlier as he had found his way into bed.

The four friends had embarked on a crime-fighting road trip at the heavy suggestion of Miss Fisher, and were in for the night at a small hotel on their way back home. Solving the murder was satisfying, but Hugh had to admit that he enjoyed much more the bigger hotels with the thicker walls, where he could pretend that Miss Fisher had really stayed in her own room for the night. He had his suspicions that Miss Fisher and the inspector had an affair arranged between them, but he hadn’t been sure until that very night. And suddenly he was so very, very sure.

Hugh felt it would be more awkward to leave his room in the middle of the night for apparently no reason, but just then, he wasn't so sure he cared. Then again, he wasn't sure he could leave, either. The insinuations of the dialogue behind the other wall left him ... curious. Curious and confusingly aroused.

He didn't want to know what all of it meant. Or any of it. Did he?

"No ... no ... don't stop ..."

Hugh pulled the covers over his head and let out a big breath from his puffed cheeks. He could do this. He could still sleep. Maybe if he just put the pillow over his head. That could work.

"Mmmm ... gemma ffft fffssss ..." Phryne's voice sounded out, muffled as it was.

Maybe that was for the best. He didn't want to know what she was saying or pleading with him for or ... oh good heavens. Pleading? Hugh didn't even want to imagine what might have Miss Fisher pleading, of all things. He sighed again, and tried putting his mind in another place.

Things seemed to fall silent after a while, and Hugh was elated that at last his torment seemed to have come to an end. He released the pillow from his head tentatively, and laid back to let his exhaustion take him away into sleep.

It took all of five seconds for another voice to interrupt his exhausted sleep.

"Turn … what I said …"

It was Jack's voice in bits and pieces, and suddenly Hugh's senses were perked. Jack? Talking through sex? Hugh understood Phryne making all the wild sounds she did as she was a very vocal and uninhibited person, but Jack? His boss, Jack?

"Let me ..." Jack was saying, followed by some sultry laughter from the female detective sharing his room.

"Mmm, Jack ..."

Just after Hugh had finally opted to rush out of his room with some excuse or other for passersby, Phryne's momentary scream halted him in his steps. It was almost a scream - and then suddenly nothing. Like a hand had been clamped over her mouth. And what did that mean?

Hugh knew Jack would never purposefully hurt Phryne, but Hugh's constable instincts had him immediately hurrying into the hall to the next room - rapping on the door with a sturdy fist.

"Miss Fisher?"

He heard some muffling, and then blanched when he realized he stood at Jack's room, and he was not supposed to know who had joined him by the momentary scream. Would it be clear he had listened in? Would they know it had been purely accidental? He forgot to breathe as a voice met his ears through the door.

"I'm okay, Hugh!" Phryne assured, but then there were footsteps accompanying her voice along with some more shuffling and Jack's voice Hugh recognized even in its low and rumbled tone.

"I have to open it." It was Jack, and he was pulling away from Phryne. Hugh could tell it must have taken some effort by the mumbled whines she was making for him not to leave. "Well? ... I told you ... Careful."

Hugh was not hearing the entirety of their statements, but straightened up immediately when the door was pulled open just enough to see Jack standing there.

"Yes, Hugh?"

"I uh ... I just came to see if uh ... if the lady in your room ... was alright."

Jack was grateful to see Hugh averting his eyes. "Miss Fisher sends her kind regards that you came so valiantly to check on her, but she just spotted a spider."

Hugh did everything he could not to blush deep shade of red. He had heard too much to believe that story, but allowed for the charade with a courteous nod. "Yes, Sir. Glad she's alright."

"And I thank you for the reminder that it is getting late, and that Miss Fisher should be walked to her own room. Perhaps you could-"

"Oh JACK," Phryne drawled playfully, pulling the door open to show that she was properly tucked into a large robe that was clearly meant for Jack. "Hugh's not a fool! You really believe he thinks we've been telling stories all this time?"

When Jack sighed and rolled his eyes, Hugh fought a smile and quickly dropped his eyes to the floor at his feet.

"Miss Fisher ..." Jack sighed, "We were both content to pretend as such until you've thrust your way into the door and made things obvious."

"Hugh dear," Phryne beamed as only she could, grabbing his forearm with a comforting smile to match as he finally looked up at her - though it was awfully difficult to look her in the eyes after what he had just heard. "Jack and I are both going to be just fine all night, but I see from your blush that we're disturbing you, so we can head down to my room instead at the other end of the hall."

Hugh braced for a full and intimidating argument from Jack, but what he heard instead surprised him.

"Kicking me out of my own room already, Miss Fisher?" Jack was just teasing her? She got off a little too lightly for Hugh's liking! Since when was his boss so jovial at another stepping so purposefully on his toes?

"Someone has to take matters into their own hands," she answered just a touch too sultry for Hugh, who again blushed and cleared his throat.

"I'll uh ..." Hugh muttered, taking two steps back toward his room. "I'll just be ..."

But the other couple all but ignored him. Just after Jack had nodded with some embarrassment, Phryne grabbed him by the hand, and they started down the hall.

"I won't be swung down the corridor," Jack corrected, his voice filled with laughter even if he refused to let loose in open company.

"Swing ME any time, Inspector!" Phryne laughed for him, scurrying down the hall with Jack more cautiously in-toe.

FINALLY, Hugh thought with a heavy breath as he carefully padded into his room. All the giggles and teasing and bed-shaking were gone, and he could relax at long last. The day had been long, and his eyes had grown heavy, so he plopped back down into his bed. Lying on his back, he let himself drift off.

The next thing he knew, his eyes were blinking open and there was a woman climbing into his bed! For the love sleep, he thought! What was happening now?

"Excuse me ...?" he said in as gentle a tone as was possible, prompting the intruder to scream and tumble out of his bed. But as she rolled clumsily and turned toward him, Hugh's eyes shot open: "DOTTIE?!"

Both took a long moment to appraise the other ... and to ignore the fact that they might have taken advantage of the opportunity if they were more daring souls.

"Dottie?" he hissed under his breath, quickly leaping from the bed to help her up to her feet. "What're you doing in here?"

After all, they WERE promised to each other, but not married. Not yet.

"I thought you were in the other room," she whispered back, enjoying the feel of his hand on her arm just a little too much for her own liking. "I saw something bunched up under the sheets, and I figured it was you ... I was trying to find a place to sleep that was ... quieter."

Hugh then blushed completely at the very thought of Dot having overheard one of Jack and Phryne's more amorous conversations, too.

"You-"

A rapping at the door distracted them both, but Hugh went to answer it with his protective side flaring. As he pulled the door only gently open, there stood Jack. Smirking with his arms crossed.

"I heard a noise, checked the only other room to find no one there, so I just ..." Then Jack's tease came out with the echoed phrase Hugh had used himself earlier: "I just came to see if the lady in your room was alright."

Just as Hugh was beginning to sweat at the implications, Dorothy fitted herself at Hugh's side to explain: "I thought this was the empty room, Inspector. I mistakenly tried this room, and when I found a man in the bed, I ... I screamed."

Jack put away his teasing grin when Dorothy stepped into the light, nodding politely to her explanation. "I see ... well, now that I see no one's been murdered ..."

"Yes, and I'll be off to my own room now," Dorothy smiled, slipping out to the next room while both men rested their hands on their hips at the awkward situation in which they had found themselves.

"Women certainly complicate things, Sir," Hugh said out of nervous confusion from the events of the night.

"Just wait until she starts asking you to ... kill her spiders," Jack jested dryly, and they both smiled. "Sorry to have intruded, Hugh. That scream usually leads us to a dead body."

"Nope, just mine," Hugh kidded back, just realizing how that sounded and clearing his throat again.

"Uh huh," Jack smiled, "Well, goodnight, Hugh."

"Night, Sir!"

Even from his spot in the doorway, Hugh could see down the dimly-lit hall to the corner where Miss Fisher suddenly appeared, curling a finger to insinuate Jack approach a little closer. 

When Jack insinuated something about needing some time, Phryne flashed a mischievous grin: "We'll just see about that!"

And much to Hugh's shock, Phryne reached out, slipped her fingers into the waist of Jack's pants, and pulled him forward by his clothing until both figures had disappeared from sight.

Once Hugh closed his door's room and leaned on it for support, his mind started running wild. What had he just seen, and why was it so shocking? A woman wanting sex with such unashamed need had him breathless. Not that Dorothy was the same as Miss Fisher. Absolutely not.

But Hugh couldn't help thinking on just what Dorothy might want.

He was still thinking on it the next morning as they met up for breakfast.

"One more hotel on the way, and then it's home sweet home," Phryne hummed, keeping her hands to herself in public view of others. That was for Jack's sake, Hugh imagined. Phryne never seemed to mind others staring.

"Yes, home soon enough," Dorothy smiled, waiting for Miss Fisher to pass her with Jack before turning to Hugh. As they both watched Phryne and Jack exit the quaint hotel, Hugh and Dot stood with stiff postures side-by-side. "How did you sleep, Hugh?"

He tried not to panic. It was just a question. Just a normal question. "Uh ... not very well, if I'm honest, Dottie."

"Heard the ruckus too, did you?" Dorothy smiled despite her greater efforts. Hugh's reaction to the topic had her giggling and turning to face him. "Don't worry, Hugh. I would never be that careless."

Hugh gulped with such shock that Dorothy's confidence to tease him only grew. She shyly took a step forward to close some of the empty space between them, and rested a hand innocently at his chest.

"Hugh Collins ... I just feel like our wedding can't come soon enough." She was touching him! She was touching him and stating in no confusion that she was anticipating their union. Hugh’s mouth went completely dry.

Terrified of reacting to her touch and her words right there in the foyer, Hugh cleared his throat and took the somewhat adventurous hand in his. "Me too, Dottie ..."

She turned an odd but friendly smile his way, and then turned to head to the car. All Hugh could do was watch her leave and wonder how on earth Jack was able to manage walking at all while Miss Fisher teased him like she did.

And knowing for certain Jack and Phryne were together ... in that way ... would be difficult of its own accord. They had a certain chemistry that had always made Hugh rather uncomfortable, but he knew it would only be worse with those horrible midnight sounds in mind. Not that he knew what those sounds amounted to exactly …

Hugh sighed, walking after Dot only to hear Miss Fisher from the car: "Only a four hour drive to go and we’re at our last stop, Hugh! You can sit in the back with Dot!"

Oh no ...


	2. Different Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group runs into some troubles at the next hotel, and Hugh has a talk with Jack.

 

Hugh was counting the minutes as he climbed into the backseat with Dot, but found himself relaxing when she kept her glance out the window. He was able to relax, and both darlings ended up fast asleep after their wakefulness the night before.

Phryne glanced over her shoulder and nearly snorted. There sat Dot with her head on Hugh's shoulder, and Hugh's head on hers. They looked quite like a couple of children falling asleep in the car after a long day at the beach.

"They get that from you," Phryne kidded, shuffling in her seat to get more comfortable.

"What?" Jack asked - his steady gaze still out on the road. There was no tease in his voice, so Phryne just chuckled and relaxed against her arm rest.

"Nothing. Your constable is really quite adorable is all."

Jack looked in his mirror, and smiled: "Your right-hand girl is finding herself a bit fatigued as well, it seems."

"How much do you want to bet this is the first time they've slept together?"

Jack scoffed and had great difficulty keeping his grip steady on the wheel, laughing despite himself. He somehow kept the car from veering. "Jesus, Phryne! Shhh."

"Alright alright," she giggled, slumping in her seat much like a child herself. "Ughh ... I'm so bored. All the scenery is exactly the same ..."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"What? Everything I want to do, you'll say no to it. I know you, Jack."

He shot her a look for using his given name in front of his constable - sleeping or not - but Phryne's gaze was out her window. He so badly wanted to reach over and kiss her just for the sake of the surprise, but he had a whole carful of people to keep safe, so he sighed instead.

"We ... could play truth-tellers?"

Phryne lit up immediately, and clasped her hands together. "Really?! ... But you hate that game!"

The roll of Jack's eyes told her he was being so agreeable to keep her cheerful on their ride. Two hours to go, he thought with aggravation. Two hours and he was already offering the question game. And he thought he was strong-willed.

"Oh Jack!" she whispered, leaning over to his side of the seat when his arm came out and the deep rumble of his laughter came between them.

"No no ... that's a part of the deal. No coming over here. I'm trying to keep us all alive."

"No matter, Jack ... I have a question already."

"Shoot."

"Jackie ..."

When he shot her a more pointed glance, it was Phryne's turn to roll her eyes. "Fine. INSPECTOR ROBINSON ... what was your favorite moment of last night's adventures?"

It was going to be a long two hours.

Hugh felt himself slowly waking to the comforting sound of Miss Fisher's hearty laughter. The lights through the car window were so bright and the little weight on his shoulder still limp, so he stayed where he was with both eyes closed to allow himself to wake up properly.

"You don't think you can come up with some creative questions?" Phryne teased.

"It's not that," Jack smirked. "I don't trust what you might say in return."

Suddenly Hugh decided he should wake up. He moved just slightly, and Dot sighed at the shift. Hugh held his breath and hoped he wouldn't frighten his sweetheart awake.

"I will be very factual, I promise," Phryne swore with her hand forming a salute when Hugh finally opened his eyes. "Just ask me one thing and I'll quit being such a pest."

"Oh thank God-"

Phryne whacked his arm, and Jack laughed as quietly as he could.

"Now you owe me TWO questions!"

Jack kept laughing as he posed his first question: "Alright ... what is your favorite part of our relationship?"

Phryne answered quicker than he would have thought, and much differently. She stared at him as she spoke: "I trust you, Jack ... and we make each other laugh ... and you challenge me to challenge myself. Not that I need anyone ..." she smiled, suddenly reaching over to play with the untucked back of his shirt. "But it doesn't hurt to have such an intimate connection to such a beautiful man ..."

Hugh immediately took a deep breath in, as if he were just waking, and Phryne gave Jack some space at the sudden company.

However, Hugh couldn't forget how easily Phryne flirted with Jack - a woman pursuing a man so desperately! Maybe desperate wasn't the word ...

And then he saw the way Phryne stared after him when they had finally arrived at the last hotel - the glow in her eyes. She definitely wasn't desperate, but she WAS aroused. Hugh choked on his breath at the realization, and Phryne turned innocently toward him. Her ability to turn her desires off so easily had Hugh confused.

"Are you alright, Hugh?" she asked, and suddenly she had an adorable expression of care that confused him.

"Uh ... yes."

Dorothy woke up from all the movement, and giggled that she'd fallen asleep. "Sorry," she smiled, stretching openly in the tight space to find Hugh staring with purpose out the window. "We're there?"

"Yes - let's get the bags to give these tired men a break." Phryne smiled at her: "What do you say, Dot?"

Hugh wasn't even given time to refuse before Phryne and Dot took the bags in-hand and started their way inside. It was a gleeful start to what was soon a very disappointing check-in.

Not only were the rooms small, but only one was left available, and while it had two beds, both couples' eyes went wide at the very implication of sharing such a tight space. Phryne's heart dropped, knowing her Jack would not be comfortable even sharing that space others. Knowing Dot could not share a bed with Hugh or even wear her night dress in front of Jack or Hugh.

"I think Hugh is my only shot at trying to talk you all into making this work. What do you say to trying this for the night?" Phryne teased, getting glares from all three friends. Instead of worrying about what to do for the night, Phryne released herself from their tight collected frames and fell back onto one of the beds. "Fine. Be spoilsports. But there is nothing wrong with sleeping in close quarters."

"We'll have to go somewhere else," Jack interjected, sighing with his hands firmly planted on his hips.

"Oh, come on," Phryne started with a very dangerous smirk. "I can sleep on this bed with Dot, and Jack and Hugh can take that bed over there."

If Jack weren't in the company of Hugh and Dot, he might have pounced on Phryne and tickled her silly to get his revenge, but as it was, he just tightened his lips together and fought the laughter.

Hugh tensed up, and Dot gasped: "Miss! You can't be serious."

"Well, I'd rather have a different bed pal, but something tells me he isn't willing."

Jack interrupted the teasing with his rational decision: "We'll just go down to the next hotel down the road. It will probably only be another half hour or so. I don't mind."

"Can't Jack and I just sleep in the car?" Phryne proposed, unwilling to go without even so much as a kiss all night. She had, after all, worn something very special under that dress.

Jack shuffled on his feet because he was just as desperate to have her in his arms, but unwilling to push for the comfort of her warmth. He was not about to be selfish.

"Are you forgetting Hugh and I can't very well sleep ... here? Together?" Dot whispered, although everyone could hear her concerns.

"Oh, alright," Phryne muttered past them all with frustration at sitting still in the car for another half hour.

Jack quite appreciated her frustration, but he kept that to himself. Watching her flustered was a rare treat he unravelled one piece at a time, but before he could follow her down the hall, Hugh stopped them all with an idea of his own.

"Wait! ... Couldn't the inspector and I just sleep out in the car?"

He had a good point, albeit all the more frustrating for Phryne. They all thought over the proposition while Hugh continued.

"... I've slept in less comfortable places, and I really don't mind. Then Dottie and Miss Fisher can each take a bed in here and no one needs to be concerned."

"I don't mind either," Jack insisted, much to the delight of Dot who clapped her hands together and threw her arms around Hugh's neck.

"My hero!"

Of course for Dorothy, that meant that thin walls or not, she would get some real rest.

It was a declaration which prompted Phryne to waltz up to Jack and press her index finger accusingly against his tie. "You ... Inspector ... are too accommodating."

Then Phryne looked up at him in a way that always made her appear as if she had never heard of such a thing as pleasure. It never failed to grab Jack's attention, alering him that she had some very interesting plans in mind before he had gone and been agreeable to a logical plan. The nerve of him.

"I hope you won't be too cold out in that car," Phryne continued in a low, teasing voice that only Jack was paying any attention. Suddenly Jack remembered that back in the city, Phryne's house was polluted with guests, and their alone time was freer on their strange and isolated road trip than it would be the next night - back home. "I'll miss you in here ..."

Just catching the end of Phryne's response, Dot smiled at the lovely couple she had pieced together long before Hugh: "Miss, aren't we all having dinner together before calling it a night?"

Jack wasn't even listening, which was unusual for a man of his courteous nature. Unwillingly, he was staring at the spot just under Phryne's ear - the spot he could target that always made her crumble in his hands.

Jack noticed his mistake when Phryne was arching an accusatory brow at him.

"I ... was just thinking about ... that Hugh and I should probably leave all our things in the hotel room for the night."

"Good thinking, Sir," Hugh smiled, glad to have Dot curled in against his side.  
Whenever Dorothy was proud of Hugh, he glowed. Whenever she kissed him on the cheek, he smiled. And whenever she declared him a hero, his lips pulled into a goofy grin, and he was oblivious to the rest of the world.

The same goofy grin was on his face later that night when they had all settled into their accommodations for some rest.

Jack smiled to himself at Hugh's young expression, and laid against the car door to try and forget what he was missing. He just closed his eyes when Hugh's voice sounded in the car.

"... Sir?"

It was cool, it was uncomfortable and suddenly more talkative than Jack had bargained for. But it was Hugh, and Jack had a soft spot for Hugh - as much as he resisted the idea to Phryne.

"... Yes, Collins?"

Hugh looked over to Jack, and sighed, because there was so much he wanted to ask, and not nearly enough courage to do so. Jack was his boss and his idol. Jack was experienced, and Hugh knew he could step over the imaginary line of their professional relationship, but still he couldn't seem to help his growing curiosity. He took a moment to collect a careful question.

"I ... wondered if ... you ever had advice before your marriage, Sir."

Jack tried so desperately not to smirk, but felt it pulling at his lips all the same, so he cleared his throat and sat up. He stared out the windshield at the line of trees in the distance, and sighed. "You discover a lot as you gain experience, Collins, but I remember wanting a lot of answers myself."

Hugh was doing everything he could not to mention sex. Not to bring up sex or insinuate that he was very nervous he wouldn't be able to please Dot when it came time to try. He sunk a little in his seat at the notion that a man has to experience things for himself, but he understood.

However, Jack surprised him with a kind honesty not often revealed: "I ... don't feel I am the experience you seek, Hugh. I have a failed marriage under my belt, but ... I can tell you one thing."

Hugh held his breath.

"Relax, and things will fall into place," Jack smiled. "As long as you are both ... happy ... then that's what really counts. Not that everything is as it SHOULD be. Do you understand?"

Hugh was nodding before he had a chance to think about it, and Jack found humor in the fact that he could tell.

Hugh sat back in his chair and tried understanding what that meant. A traditional man like Jack telling him to just relax and it didn't matter exactly how things fell into place? Jack? Telling him there should be no judgement in an act so filthy people dared not to speak of it in polite company?

After hearing Jack's answer, Hugh was so lost in thought he didn't even realize Jack had fallen asleep until he glanced over. Content that there was not much left to do, Hugh tucked in to his side of the car, and fell asleep too.

He awoke - however - just a half hour later, to see Jack standing outside the car and very cautiously closing his side door. Hugh blinked himself awake with confusion and watched as Jack presumably was heading in to find the washroom. But Jack was not the type to sneak around.

Without being able to control his curiosity, Hugh found himself following Jack inside. He found himself in the lobby of the hotel, watching with wide eyes to see Jack leaning against a doorway. THAT wasn't the washroom. And was that Phryne he pulled into the hallway? He pulled her against him and kissed her! And just when Hugh's eyes could not have been wider, Phryne took the lead, and pushed him up against the opposite wall - both laughing and hurrying down the hallway when they had been loud.

Hugh hadn't even found it in himself to hide from sight as he watched them scurry out of sight down the next hallway. He scoffed at his own thoughts of Jack's discretion. DISCRETION?! This was the farthest thing from it. Could it be that sex had an entirely different set of rules? Could Jack be a very quiet, traditional gentleman in public and a very different kind of lover? Could Hugh be different behind closed doors, too? Would Dottie even want that?

Hugh's heart started racing uncontrollably when he realized that ... maybe she _would_ ...

 


	3. Guilty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A good thing can cause a good amount of guilt ...

Hugh was standing in City South Station, thinking back to the road trip when the front door swung open. Jack was returning from lunch - and in trailed Miss Fisher after him, as if she had been working there all along.

"You never listen, Jack," she teased, tucking her clutch under her arm as she tilted her head from side-to-side. She was let in after Jack, both of them heading down to his office.

"I listen just fine, Miss Fisher," he answered without turning back. "It's outrageous ideas that simply can't be given a voice, I'm afraid."

Hugh knew this was his chance. If they were bickering, he knew he could ask to leave for his lunch a little early. Somewhat awkwardly, Hugh briskly walked down the hallway to Jack's office where he saw Miss Fisher already sitting on her favorite corner of the desk.

"I uh ... Sir, I need to leave early for lunch."

"Sure, Constable," Jack replied just as easily, rifling through some of his papers to ignore the smirk on Phryne's face. "I'll see you in an hour to go over our findings!" It was information equally for Hugh as for Phryne, who often needed to be reminded that time must be kept.

Hugh gladly acknowledged the time frame, and was out the door. He arrived at Wardlow with his hands clasped behind him, smiling as he watched Dorothy descend the stairs.

"Hi, Dottie."

"Hugh," she beamed, hurrying down to throw her arms around his neck. "Hugh - I didn't think you'd be coming to see me during work hours! What's gotten into you, Collins?" she teased, only using the nickname when they were truly and rightfully alone.

"No one's here?" he whispered, hopeful eyes giving Dorothy an even wider smile.

"Well, we weren't expecting any company," she giggled, "Mr. Butler is out for the moment, and I don't know where Bert and Cec are off to now."

Without allowing himself to doubt his own actions, Hugh did something he'd been thinking about the entire ride over - he pulled Dorothy in close, and kissed her. It wasn't the chaste kiss he was used to planting, but a much more fluid and troublesome kiss that had all of his passion behind it. While Hugh Collins was not experienced, the kiss certainly sent its message. He wanted her.

Dorothy melted. It was so exciting to be wanted with such intensity and to have it acknowledged between them. When Hugh pulled back, Dorothy realized she was leaning on him, breathless.

"Hugh! ... What ... in heaven's name ...?"

"W-w-was it too much?" he asked weakly, worried that it might have frightened Dorothy - that she might have been just as conservative as she's always seemed.

"What's kept you from doing that all this time?" she beamed with a smile all at once innocent and curious.

Hugh blinked down at her, and finally pulled his lips into a joyful expression of love: "I didn't know ... if you might be offended."

Dorothy reached up on her toes, planted a small kiss on Hugh's lips, and then winked. "Offend me any time, Hugh Collins."

It was sometime later that Phryne returned home to the sound of something tumbling over in the parlour. She took her pistol out of her purse, and inched her way around the barrier of the wall to lift a brow - Hugh was standing awkwardly and red-faced next to the couch where Dorothy was doing the best she could to hide her own blush. Phryne hardly knew what to do or say. She wanted to laugh, but knew better than that - Dorothy and Hugh were acting like a couple of teenagers caught by mother.

"I ... was just coming home to grab my purse," Phryne smirked, backing away as Dorothy called after her.

"Didn't you have your purse WITH you, Miss?"

The door closed again behind Phryne, and Dorothy put her head in her hands. She had been caught alone with a man, and certainly they could have been simply talking, but alone nonetheless. Oh, how Dorothy wished she had been able to control herself, but the way Hugh kissed her at the door - it was like he had always wanted to give her those tingles. And where did they come from anyway? How did everything feel so intense when she had backed over to the couch and pulled him down on it? Even though they'd only been kissing - and both very inexperienced with lying-down kissing - it had been invigorating. As Dorothy looked shyly up to Hugh, she was admitting that it would be difficult to go back to hand-holding after the passionate kissing they had just shared.

"I'm ... I'm sorry if I wasn't as gentle as-"

"No!" Dorothy interrupted, smiling accidentally as she dropped her head in her hand. "I mean ... no, you don't have to be sorry, Hugh. I'd just ... never felt anything like that. That feeling ... it was so powerful ..."

When she saw Hugh looked concerned, she chuckled and touched his face.

"It was exciting, Hugh," she clarified, watching him smile in return. "And now I'm feeling awfully guilty ..."

"No, don't feel guilty, Dottie," he cooed, slipping his arm over her to cradle her closely. "Anything but that ... I'm sorry if I was too assertive."

It was an assurance that had Dorothy shedding tears because of her true enjoyment of his assertiveness.

Later that day, when Dorothy was sitting sadly at the dining room table and Mr. Butler had been unable to lighten her spirits, Miss Fisher sat down right beside her.

Dorothy looked up to her employer and dear friend, and tried at a smile.

Phryne grinned at her in the most comforting way: "So ... shall we have 'the talk' then ...?"

It was a question that first made Dorothy blush, and then shyly inquire about the way she was feeling. The entire conversation had Dorothy realizing that it was not just a beginner who had such torn feelings about approaching new territory. Sex - and everything related in its fanciful web - was complicated.

"I really didn't mean to kiss him that way ..." Dorothy trailed off after a natural silence had settled around them.

Phryne smiled at her adorable friend, and put a hand gently on her back: "Oh dear Dot ... I wish you could see the way Jack looks at me sometimes during ..."

Dorothy immediately blushed red: "No-no! No ... no thank you, Miss ..."

"No," Phryne laughed, "I'm afraid he would have the very same answer. What I mean is ... your predicament is not the only of its kind. All it takes is an honest conversation. At times we all try to do things with the passion of our hearts. It doesn't always make sense, and that's okay. Hugh loves you, Dot. Nothing will change that."

"Not even if I kiss him like that again?" Dorothy asked so worriedly, Phryne had to laugh.

"Most certainly not."

It was four days later that Dorothy had the nerve to call Hugh back up again, after she'd walked in on something in the parlour. Quite accidentally, she'd walked in to clean the room and found Jack rolling off of Phryne on the exact same couch. Looking just as mussed and embarrassed as Hugh had looked days before.

"Jack was just ... killing a spider for me from under the couch," Phryne teased, offering her hand to Jack in order to pull her up to her feet. Feet which she only just realized had one shoe on and one shoe off. With great tact, Phryne simply slipped the other shoe off, and pulled Jack behind her toward the stairs. "I'm going to check for spiders upstairs with Jack ..."

"Spiders, Miss?" Dorothy asked, as if to admit she understood very well what they had been doing and that maybe it wasn't all so scary as it seemed.

"Spiders, Dot," Phryne lied obviously, trailing Jack behind her with erotic promises still ringing in his ears.

Dorothy called Hugh just minutes later, asking to meet with him so they could have a real, in-depth conversation about things like Phryne had suggested.

"At the house?" Hugh asked, still with an hour left to his shift.

"No!" Dorothy answered, laughing at her own insistence with giggles already coming from Phryne room upstairs. "I mean ... I'll meet you at the station."

"I can't wait. I've missed you, Dottie."

His voice had Dorothy smiling, realizing that perhaps a bit of embarrassment was not necessarily the end of the world. "I missed you too."

When Dorothy hung up, the one thought resounding in her mind brought an overwhelming smile to her face: _one day, I'm going to marry that man _.__


End file.
